Chanukah 5773

Chanukah 5773

December 8-16

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From the Chassidic Masters

Shining Candles

The Chanukah candles are a classic example of holiness. The number of candles
grow higher night by night, providing increasingly more light to dispell the darkness
and for goodness to excell over evil. The message of Chanukah is that we also
are empowered to use the intellectual and emotional powers of our soul at their
highest level, to be a candle dispelling darkness. Just as we light the candles
to shine outwards, to be seen by others, so also each of us in our lives should
also be candles shining outwards, good examples of positive action to everyone
in the world. [Chassidic sources]

From the Rebbes
of Chabad

THE INNER LIGHT

"For the mitzvah is a candle and the Torah is light" [Proverbs
6:23].

Just as physical light is generated by a candle, the
light of Torah is generated by a mitzvah candle. Without the candle of mitzvot
to dispel the darkness there can be no light of Torah! Through the mitzvah candle
we attain the Torah light, which is the inner light of the Essence of G-d - the
source of light that has to shine below in order to transform the spiritual darkness
of this world into light.

The Greeks defiled all the oil
in the Temple chambers. Wisdom is compared to oil. The Greeks wanted to contaminate
the wisdom of the Torah (Divine wisdom) with their intellectual wisdom. The positive
wisdom of the Torah brings about a level of self-nullification in the one who
learns it that enables him to fulfill Torah and mitzvot and generally to be a
good person. The negative wisdom of the Greeks brings the one who learns it to
feel himself to be a separate existence. He does whatever he wants to do, rather
than what G-d expects of him. The Greeks wanted to neutralize the positive wisdom,
the True Reality, with the negative wisdom, the perceived reality. They wanted
to make the Jews forget that the Torah is G-d's Torah, and to deny G-d's existence
by not allowing the Jews to do the chukim [statutes], those mitzvot decreed
by the Torah which cannot be understood (and rationally justified) by human intelligence.

The Chashmonaim [Maccabees] overpowered and defeated
the Greeks through their complete devotion to G-d, to the extent that they gave
up their lives (their existence) to reveal G-d's existence (the idea of the mitzvah
candle, as above). Afterwards, they instituted the lighting of the Chanukah candles,
which is the same idea as the Torah light.

The observance
of nearly all the holidays, including Shabbos, is centered around festive meals.
The only exception is Chanukah, where by Rabbinical decree, the lighting of the
candles is not only the primary ceebration, it is the only celebration. This serves
to focus our attention on the miracle of the oil staying lit for 8 days, and not
on the military victory over the Greeks. The reason for this is that the Greeks
did not seek to kill us, but to make us forget our Judaism (see the paragraph
"al hanisim" ["on the miracles"] that is added in the
Amidah and in Grace After Meals) and accept their philosophies and approach
to life.

What is the difference between the Jewish way and the Greek/western
civilization one? Man-made philosophies accept only those ideas that make sense
to human intelligence. Anything that cannot be understood by the intellect is
out. Therefore, the Greeks accepted, for instance, the existence of G-d, His unity,
His first-ness and His eternalness, but they denied G-d's "micro-management"
and the Torah commandments, asking what does the Creator care if we eat meat with
milk or not. A Jew, on the other hand, believes that G-d is higher than any level
of wisdom and knowledge, that no thought can contain the Almighty at all, even
the most lofty. Even more, one challenge of our G-d given ability to think is
to understand that we and our intellect are limited and to believe and have faith
in the basic foundations of the Torah. The miracle of Chanukah is an expression
of G-dly wisdom overpowering human intellect.

This is the message of the
Chanukah candles. Just as the number of candles increase night by night-more light
dispelling the darkness, goodness excelling over evil-so also we are empowered
to use our intellect at its maximum potential to be a candle dispelling darkness.
Just as we light the candles to shine outwards, to be seen by others, so also
each of us in our lives should also be like candles to shine outwards, examples
of positive action to others.

Some Laws and Customs -- BASIC LAWS OF THE CHANUKAH LIGHTS

1. On the first night (Sat., Dec. 8 - after Havdala), one light
is kindled at the right end of the menorah.

2. On the next night a light is added to the left of the first
one and both lights are kindled, and similarly each night until eight lights are
kindled on the eighth night.

3. Each night an additional light is kindled--called
the shamesh--which is used to light the other ones and then placed above them.

4. The lights are kindled left to right, starting with the newest light.

5. The lights must burn for at least half an hour after dark.

6. If available,
olive-oil lights are preferable to wax candles.

7. Before kindling, make
sure there is enough oil (or big enough candles) to burn for half an hour (or
more if lit before nightfall-see 5).

8. In our times, the menorah is placed:

a. On the outside of the front door, opposite the mezuzah (Jerusalem practice)
b. In a door frame inside the house, opposite the mezuzah (Chassidic practice)
c. In a window facing a public thoroughfare (common practice)note: in
an apartment more than ten meters above the street, practice c. is of questionable
validity.

9. The lights should be in an even row -no curves,
no height variations. They should be well-spaced so their flames do not appear
merged (and if candles, that they do not melt each other).

10. On the first
night, immediately before kindling, all three blessings (found in every prayerbook)
are said.

11. On the subsequent nights, only the first two blessings are
said.

12. No use should be made of the lights shed by the Chanukah candles,
such as reading by their light.

13. For the Friday night of Chanukah, the
lights must be kindled before sunset and before the Shabbat candles are lit. Additional
oil (or larger candles) should be provided to ensure that they can burn until
half an hour after nightfall.